8 Videogames to Get Your Kid Into Engineering

It's always hard to find ways to get your kids interested in science. For decades, dinosaurs have been the go-to resource for parents looking to inspire their kids to pursue knowledge, but with the rising sophistication of videogames parents now have new options for igniting the fact-based part of their child's imaginations.

Kids have always loved building things and solving problems, but before videogames, the best tools we could offer them were Lincoln Logs and Legos. Today, we can give them a whole lot more. Here are eight games you can use to help prepare your child's brain for a life of building and engineering.

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Kerbal Space Program:

To put it simply, Kerbal Space Program is a rocket-ship simulator. You snap together your own rocket from a variety of different engines, capsules etc. and try to blast off the planet. If your ship doesn't make sense it'll explode mid-flight or just fall over on the launch pad. The physics are real, but it's considerably easier to launch a Kerbal rocket than a real one.

After launch, what's next is up to you. You'll have to proceed in baby steps as you get better at the game. First you need to design a capable rocket. Then you learn to achieve orbit, and bring your astronaut home safely. Then launch a satellite, or go straight for a moon landing.

It's not just for kids, either. This is a game that GeekMoms and GeekDads can play along with their kids. Young ones will love designing new rockets, while Mom and Dad will check the telemetry on the moon landing approach vector. Great for kids, or anyone who keeps a portrait of Elon Musk above the fireplace.

Minecraft:

At its most basic, Minecraft is like a high-tech version of Lego that allows players to build whatever they can imagine (as long as they can mine the proper materials from the ground). But once you delve deep into the gameplay you'll find a whole lot more is possible.

At its most complex, Minecraft is a wonderland of forges, pistons, switches and outside-the-box thinking. The best thing about it is that you can learn the game at your own pace. You might simply build a dirt house for yourself when you first play the game. Sooner or later, though, you're going to want to upgrade. Then you might learn how to rig up a simple switch-based door, or build a forge to craft weapons to defend yourself.

It can sound complex, but the learning takes place in baby steps with simple curiosity driving kids forward to see what else is possible. In today's world of instant answers, Minecraft is a great option for parents hoping to encourage kids to seek their own solutions to complex problems.

World of Goo:

Minecraft can be an intimidatingly large first step into the world of videogame engineering. If you're looking to simply get your kid to develop their own solutions to simple problems, then World of Goo is an outstanding answer.

It's a puzzle game in which you stretch out little gooballs to make a scaffolding that can function as a bridge, ladder, building, etc. It can be as simple as building a bridge over a small gap, but gradually grows more complex as different types of materials (floating, exploding, etc.) are introduced into the problem.

World of Goo is like the videogame equivalent of those popsicle-stick bridges they made us build in high school. Many of the same principles are at work, but there's no messy glue and it's vastly more adorable.

Amazing Alex:

If you're looking for something for the younger crowd then Amazing Alex might just be perfect. You play as Alex, a seemingly bored young child with a penchant for creating extraordinary machines out of household objects.

In your unending quest to pop all the balloons, knock over all the books, and get all the balls in the basket, you'll have to create your own chain reactions to get the job done. Float a balloon up to the shelf to knock over the book that hits the switch and sets off the spring loaded boxing glove which launches the toy pig into the basket. Success!

It's a great kids' title because it uses objects they already know and understand to create puzzles they can easily wrap their brains around. Every kid knows balloons float, balls roll downhill, and a tower of boxes falls over if pushed. The developer uses that to create some clever, yet easy to understand puzzles to challenge kids.

Fantastic Contraption:

Similar to the previous game on this list, Fantastic Contraption tasks you with building a simple machine to accomplish a goal. But there's an important difference: It's free! You can go try it out now on Flash gaming sites.

The game asks you to build a vehicle that can move a square from one zone to another zone. It's that simple. Of course, that's never quite as easy as it sounds. Your designs have to evolve quickly as they grow from simple two-wheeled cars to 10-wheel behemoths that can climb piles of rubble.

This game will be suitable for slightly older kids than Amazing Alex, as it requires a more active imagination, and its challenges can be much harder. But since it's free we pretty much recommend it for everybody with even a passing interest in problem solving.

SpaceChem:

Most of the games so far have focused on building structures, but construction isn't the only kind of engineering. SpaceChem might just do the trick if you're trying to build a tiny chemical engineer.

In SpaceChem you play as a scientist tasked with constructing an assembly-line system to create certain types of chemicals by forming and breaking chemical bonds. It might sound like a boring edutainment game, but this was actually a hit with hardcore gamers. It's been praised by critics for its open-ended problem solving, meaning you can invent your own solutions to problems.

And the best part is that it's also based on real chemical and atomic science, so players will even pick up some knowledge about titanium oxide bonds while flexing their gray matter.

Patterns:

Though Patterns is currently only available in a limited alpha version, it's showing a considerable amount of promise in the realm of player creativity. Similar to Minecraft, players gather materials from the ground, then build things.

There's a big difference though. The world of Patterns is made of triangles, not cubes, and as any high school geometry student could tell you: You can make just about anything out of triangles. Taking another step beyond Minecraft, Patterns allows you to fashion your own new shapes and three-dimensional pieces by snapping them together in the pattern creator.

Now this might not sound terribly exciting, but it's an immensely powerful toolset when combined with the ambition and general boredom of the average kid. If you've ever seen the astounding things people have been able to create with the limited toolset of Minecraft then you can imagine the beginnings of what Patterns will enable people to do.

It's a perfect example of a game unleashing people's creative construction potential, and teaching them to create what their brain imagines.

Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts:

Though it's based on the popular Nintendo 64 game, this 2008 Xbox 360 title doesn't have too much in common with those older games. This take on the series had players snapping together their own custom vehicles to complete challenges like races, ramping for big air or flying to the finish line.

What you create is completely up to you. The challenge is not just about having the skill to complete the competition, but learning to build sturdy and efficient vehicles.

Nuts and Bolts is very much in the same spirit as Kerbal Space Program, but with a much more beginner-friendly appeal. It lures kids in with its beautiful, cartoonish art style while subtly helping them develop an instinct for designing reliable vehicles. Your kids wont be applying for a job at Chrysler based on what they learn, but it could help plant the seed of interest.